Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Armenian Genocide Bills Ramp Up Diplomatic Tension, Cables Show

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Armenian Genocide Bills Ramp Up Diplomatic Tension, Cables Show

    ARMENIAN GENOCIDE BILLS RAMP UP DIPLOMATIC TENSION, CABLES SHOW .
    By MICHAEL DOYLE

    Miami Herald
    http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/06/14/2266759/armenian-genocide-bills-ramp-up.html
    June 14 2011
    FL

    WASHINGTON -- An Armenian genocide resolution reintroduced in
    Congress on Tuesday will have international repercussions, secret
    State Department cables show.

    The resolution is intended to put the House of Representatives on
    record applying the term "genocide" to the mass killings of Armenians
    in the years 1915-1923. Identical or similar Armenian genocide
    resolutions have failed to reach the House floor for the past 16 years.

    While perennially frustrated, though, the resolutions reliably succeed
    in inciting diplomatic chatter, State Department cables made available
    through WikiLeaks show.

    "Any U.S. definition of the events of 1915 as 'genocide' would set
    off a political firestorm in Turkey, and the effect on our bilateral
    relationship - including political, military and commercial aspects
    - would be devastating," a State Department cable sent from Ankara,
    Turkey, warned on Jan. 26, 2010.

    A separate section of the cable, made available through WikiLeaks
    and classified "secret," noted that the company Sikorsky was trying
    to sell helicopters and Raytheon was trying to sell an air defense
    system to Turkey.

    Additional State Department cables indicate that Turkish military and
    intelligence cooperation with U.S. war efforts slowed temporarily
    in response to previous congressional consideration of a genocide
    resolution. Other countries, too, can get drawn into the issue.

    An Oct. 13, 2009, State Department cable from Tel Aviv, classified
    "secret" and also made available through WikiLeaks, took note of
    "Turkey's annual request for Israeli help in blocking the Armenian
    genocide bill in the Congress."

    As it happens, moreover, President Barack Obama talked by telephone
    Tuesday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. A White
    House statement said the two leaders "agreed to continue working
    closely together."

    The White House statement didn't explicitly say whether the Armenian
    genocide resolution came up as a topic.

    The resolution was introduced with 57 House supporters on board, 14
    of them from California, which has a large Armenian population. It
    declares that the Ottoman Empire "conceived and carried out" the
    killing of 1.5 million Armenians.

    "This legislation represents an important opportunity for the United
    States to assume a leadership role in genocide affirmation and genocide
    prevention, especially in the face of genocide denial," said Bryan
    Ardouny, the executive director of the Armenian Assembly of America.

    The genocide resolutions sometimes have come close to passing before
    being yanked back.

    Last year, the House Foreign Affairs Committee approved the resolution
    by 23-22, prompting Turkey to recall its ambassador temporarily. The
    bill then stalled. Among the opponents last year was Rep. Ileana
    Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., who's since risen to become the chairman of
    the committee.

    In 2007, the Armenian genocide resolution attracted 237 House
    co-sponsors and appeared headed for approval. A combination of
    Pentagon, State Department and Turkish lobbying pressure persuaded
    25 lawmakers to drop their support and the resolution fizzled.

    In a similar vein, House Republican leaders in 2000 pulled the plug on
    the resolution minutes before then-Rep. George Radanovich, R-Calif.,
    was set to bring it up on the floor.

    In a flip-flop similar to that shown by previous presidents, Obama
    supported an Armenian genocide resolution while he was a candidate
    and then backed off once he was in the White House. He avoids using
    the term in his annual commemorative statements, issued in April.

Working...
X